There are devices available for treating headaches more particularly there is a pillow available for treating headaches with a therapeutic ice pack that fits in the pocket of a pillow. This device can provide hot or cold treatment so that the therapeutic effect of hot and cold treatment can be applied directly to the sub occipital area of the head.
One such device is disclosed and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,783,866 and 4,858,259 owned by the same entity as this application. In this device a U-shaped therapeutic pillow is provided with a pocket for receiving a container containing a material that can be heated or cooled for application to the occipital area of the head. The therapeutic pillow is in a U-shape configuration having extensions that fit around the neck with the upper portion of the pillow applying the soothing treatment. This device is very effective in the treatment of headaches and in particular can be useful in treating migraine headaches.
It is also known that mechanical stimulation of various areas of the body can provide relief from the pain of sore muscles and tension. For example there are devices that include a vibrating massaging apparatus that can be wrapped around the neck to provide a massaging effect to the neck. One such device on the market provides a velcro closure to wrap the device around the neck like a collar or scarf.
It would be advantageous if such massaging action could be applied to the posterior or occipital region of the head to provide a soothing, stimulating effect to relieve tension or migrane headaches.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a therapeutic pillow that includes the ability to apply hot or cold treatment to the occipital area of the head and/or also apply a massaging action.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a therapeutic pillow that includes the ability to apply hot and cold ice packs that also includes a vibrating stimulating device in a pocket at the upper portion of the pillow.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a therapeutic pillow having the ability to apply hot or cold ice packs which has a therapeutic massaging device that fits in a pocket in an upper portion of the pillow for application of stimulating massage to the posterior area of the head.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a therapeutic pillow having a stimulating massaging device operated by batteries.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a therapeutic pillow having a massaging stimulating device that allows the batteries in the device to be easily removed and replaced.